Suspension suggestion and questions

I just picked up my first Tacoma DC 4x4 last Friday and im looking to lift it, and put 33's on it. Ive been reading through and searching through past threads all day till my head hurts.

I was looking at the Pro Comp but ended up throwing that one out because of the springs. I have come down to two I guess the Toytec OME sus with 885's, or the 3" with front coils. I would like to go the full 3" with the top spacer. Will it be 100% nessessary to have to buy new uca's if I do go with the full 3"? Budget would be maxed out at about $600

The truck wont see any serious off roading mostly highway driving and the ocational ride down the dirt roads. Before anyone says ride quality, I understand. Ride quality will suffer no matter what, I know this been racing mustangs and corvetts enough to know. Cant be any worse than drag racing suspension on the street.

 

Your alignment will be shit and handling squirely without it and you may have tire fitting issues with it. 33' 285 width will require cab mount chop with UCA that adds caster.

 

So how is it all these other companies are getting a true 3" like pro comp, rough country etc. I would not think the alignment would be that far out, I would think any good alignment shop could get it close. I know it won't be perfect, I expect that.

 

I had the Pro Comp 3" coil and spring lift on my Access Cab in my sig and it was a full 3". Had stock UCA's and ran 285's. I had to trim a lot of the inner fenders but nothing scary. Ride was stiff. Alignment was "close" but not perfect. Aside from the stiff Pro Comp ride, the truck handled fine. Hope that helps.

 

Yea I like the Pro Comp kit except for the extra stuff springs. So think I'll stick with Toytec 3" with the 885's and add the uca's later down the road to get the alignment "perfect". Then when the truck actually needs shocks later down the road I'll go OME's. I don't foresee any problems with handling.

 

You will have low caster with any company's lift. It is just the physics and geometry involved. You will be 1.X degree caster at 2.5-3" of lift as you lose caster once you adjust camber for a higher lift. You can say that 1.2 degree caster is fine and you are close and it handles great but that does not change the fact it does not handle great due to low caster and is no longer as stable as it used to be. Things dont get RIDICULOUS till you hit negative caster, which we dont have to worry about with our trucks. If you get a new UCA that adds the standard 2 degrees of caster you can expect the whole wheel to move back about 1 inch and for the wheel to then move more rearward under compression which will create cab mount rubbing issues.

As long as you realise that it wont be "like stock" handling or "good" handling and can live with the low caster you will be fine. Just don't expect it to not be noticable, becasue it is.

 

From my experience I would just do it correct the first time. I went cheap and skimpy the first time and have had to go back and replace everything. You could just throw a spacer under there and call it good, but you really should get upper control arms to be able to align it better and more stability. You might want to look into a spindle extension as well to help with the ride quality. To really do it right and in a way that you will be happy with for as long as you own it, spend $750 on some FOX 0-3" coil overs and another $500 or so on some upper control arms and you will love the ride.